Leading the Blind
by Whispatchet
Summary: A stupid mistake lead towards a painful injury. A misunderstanding lead to shame. A wait lead to a complication. And instinct lead one brother to the other.  -Rated for Swearing-
1. Sting

The battle was fierce.

Many Autobots and Decepticons lay by the sidelines, wounded, dead or dying. As sad a sight as it was, it was the usual scene. Never something you ever really numb to, but something you grow accustomed to… something that hurts less every time… but only just.

It was the kind of sight that made Sideswipe sick to his preverbal stomach. He hated seeing this… after, during, before, he hated it no matter which way he looked at it. It reminded him too much of battles that he lost friends in back on Cybertron.

The only comfort he found was that his brother hated seeing it as much as he did; Sunstreaker was just a bazillion times better at hiding it than he was.

The twin warriors cruised around the battlefield, helping pick up the pieces of the Autobot casualties and fatalities, and the Decepticon ones that no one bothered to collect. It stunned the red and yellow sometimes, how little the Decepticons cared for each other.

"Sideswipe!" Said a voice from across the field.

The twins both looked up. The voice had belonged to Ratchet, the Head Medical Officer, privately known to the twins as Senior Cranky Pants on the bad days, Primus in a Nissan Van on the good.

"What, Ratchet?" Sideswipe responded, shooting the medic a questioning glance.

"Grab that for me, will you?"

'That' happened to be a downed Decepticon, laying half under a large rock on the far side of the battleground.

Sideswipe looked between the Decepticon and the medic a few times, noting that it was pretty much the last thing to be picked up and the other Autobots could be seen on the horizon, heading for the Ark.

The red warrior looked at his brother, who shrugged, before returning his gaze to Ratchet. "Yeah, kay."

Sideswipe headed over, and Sunstreaker moved to help him, but Ratchet's voice sounded yet again, holding him back. "Hang on an astrotick Sunstreaker, I need you to help me with this over here."

"Fine, fine." Sunstreaker huffed.

And so, Sideswipe headed over to the Decepticon all on his lonesome.

The red melee warrior strode over and had a look at the Decepticon. A perfect example of Megatron's ability to provide the Autobots with laser fodder, indeed. This poor guy was probably one of the rankless grunts that the higher ups tossed in their direction before doing much else themselves.

Upon quick inspection, Sideswipe realised that the Decepticon wasn't a seeker. That instantly earned him points in Sideswipe's book, considering seekers were the most annoying thing to have ever have stood in Megatron's shadow. No, this guy looked like he had some sort of all-terrain vehicle as his alternate mode… and he had a sword attached to his right arm, which was pretty much the only part of him in decent shape; the blade was still sharp.

Sideswipe crouched next to the Decepticon. To move him, he'd have to move the rock, he decided, and the rock was probably too big for him to move on hi-… What the…

His lamentations were cut short as he noticed movement from the 'Con. A grimace? Was he still alive?

"Hey, 'Con." Sideswipe asked. "Are you dead or what?"

The Decepticon cracked his optics open. It pleased Sideswipe to see they weren't the usual red colour of most Decepticons. No, indeed, they were a pale green. Pale, but dull… and not giving off much light. He probably couldn't see very well.

"Looks like you're not dead after all." Sideswipe said to the wounded mech below him.

The Decepticon grimaced again and flinched, before moving his mouth weakly. Stupidly, Sideswipe knelt down and leaned closer to the Con, trying to hear what he was saying. Instead of words though, Sideswipe heard a pained grunt, before hearing a SHING and then, the sound of shattering glass and tearing metal.

He also felt the sting of a blade cutting across his face, and the splash of his own Energon on his cheeks.

And the next thing Sunstreaker and Ratchet heard was a loud screech of pain.


	2. Short Supply

The tall forms of Ratchet and Sunstreaker were across the field in five seconds flat. Sideswipe had fallen back, and was curled up, grasping at his face, Energon seeping through his fingers. Sunstreaker took one look at his brother, and whirled on the Decepticon, pulling out his gun and firing it into his face.

Ratchet knelt over the red Autobot and tried to pull his fingers away from his face. Sideswipe, however, wasn't being too helpful. 

"Sideswipe, move your hands, damnit!' The CMO ordered. "Move them now before I weld them in place!"

"Sides…" Sunstreaker said gently.

Sideswipe whimpered a little, but relaxed a fraction, letting Ratchet pull his hands away from his face.

Despite himself, Ratchet recoiled slightly. Sideswipe had a deep gash, right across his face, right through both optics. Energon was pouring all over the place from his useless optics, which had changed to a broken shade of grey.

"Oh Sides…" The medic muttered.

"Ratchet, do something!" Sunstreaker demanded.

Ratchet frowned. "There isn't much I can do right now. Except this…" The Nissan pulled out a flexiseal and gently stuck it over the top half of Sideswipe's face.

Sunstreaker stared at the mech who had brought them back from the brink of death countless times in perfect disbelief. "That's it? That's all you can do?"

Ratchet nodded. "At this point, yes. Until we can get him back to the Ark and into the med back for me to properly analyse the damage, all I can do is stifle the bleeding by applying a flexiseal." He stood. "If that bothers you, bundle him up and haul him to med bay."

There was a pause as Sunstreaker considered the medic carefully. But then the golden warrior stowed his gun, and heaved his twin onto his back, and started walking off. Ratchet smiled at Sunstreaker's back.

….

Luck, if you could call it that, was on the side of the twins when they and their favourite medic trudged back into the Ark. Most bots were either resting in their quarters or in the med bay themselves, so there was no one to stop them and ask them about the wound on Sideswipe's face.

When they reached the sector of the Ark where the med bay was, Ratchet began to lead them away from the main med bay, and into another part of the Medical Wing, to the isolation wards.

Ratchet was many things, but uncaring wasn't one of them. He cared about the twins, immensely, no matter how much he may preach otherwise. He knew that the pair liked to be left in their own company when one of them, or both, were in the hospital. So, often, Ratchet put them in the iso wards.

Sunstreaker lay Sideswipe down on a berth inside the iso ward and stepped back to let Ratchet get in close to his twin.

"Ratch…" Sideswipe said weakly.

"Don't, Sides…" Sunstreaker told him.

"It's all right, Sideswipe." Ratchet said gently. "I'll have you back to annoying someone in no time."

The medic carefully removed the flexiseal from the warrior's face. Thankfully, the bleeding had slowed considerably, as Sideswipe's self repair systems had started trying to fix his optics. Ratchet pulled a few tools over to the berth, and, putting the young warrior into stasis, began to work on Sideswipe's damaged face.

….

Ratchet worked for an hour on Sideswipe, constantly under Sunstreaker's gaze. When he had finished, instead of bringing Sideswipe out of stasis lock, he left the berth and walked over to talk to the yellow twin.

"What's the matter?" Sunstreaker demanded as the medic approached him. "Is Sideswipe…?"

"Sideswipe is fine." Ratchet assured him. "He's still in stasis yet, but, there is a problem."

"What?"

Ratchet frowned, and looked back at Sideswipe's inert form. "Sideswipe's optics were badly damaged. All the way down to the neural lines under them. I don't have any sensors to repair them with."

Sunstreaker blinked. "So…"

"So, I'll have to put an order in to Cybertron for some parts. In the mean time, Sideswipe's gunna be blind."

"But okay?"

Ratchet nodded. "Blind, but okay."

Sunstreaker sighed and looked at his brother. "Idiot." He muttered.

Ratchet moved back over to Sideswipe and brought him outta stasis before stepping back again.

"Sides?" Sunstreaker tested.

"S-sunny?" Sideswipe answered, pulling himself up. "I can't… I can't…"

"I know, bro. I know."


	3. Blindfold

After explaining the situation to the red twin, Ratchet put empty optic lenses in so that he didn't have two big gaping holes in his face. They remained a dull grey, and were completely expressionless and useless. Sunstreaker had found his brother's now lifeless stare quite unnerving, so he tied a strip of clean cloth around Sideswipe's head like a blindfold.

The last they saw, and the term is used loosely, of Ratchet, was him leaving the med bay with a few data pads, one being an order for some optic sensors, others probably a medical report, one for the medic's files, one for Optimus Prime, and he was muttering the entire way.

Sunstreaker helped his brother get to his feet.

"Come on Sides, let's get you back to our room." The yellow twin said.

Sideswipe nodded. "This is really creepy, Sunny…"

Sunstreaker shrugged out of habit, before taking his brother's hand, and slowly leading him out of the med bay.

Once in the hallway, he moved Sideswipe's hand to his shoulder, and the pair started walking, the yellow warrior's face almost blank, the red's an image of concentration.

The Lambo Twins passed a few mechs in the hall on the way to their quarters. Most passed by without comment. Surely the two warriors were just being themselves, playing some sort of dumb game as usual.

"We're almost there Sides."

"Good." Came Sideswipe's uneasy reply.

One corridor after another, then, one corridor to go. Sunstreaker found himself counting the steps from the med bay to their room. But, just when they were two doors away, a voice from behind them stopped both twins in their tracks.

"Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, I'd like to see you in my office now please." Said the always cheery voice of their Vice Commander, Prowl. Sunstreaker turned to look at the Datsun with wide optics. Sideswipe turned his head only slightly towards the voice.

"…Why?" Sunstreaker asked.

"What'd we do now?" Sideswipe added.

Prowl frowned at the pair. "What are you doing?" He asked, noting the blindfold tied around the red Lambo's head.

"Doing?" Sideswipe turned his head towards Prowl's voice a little more.

"Weren't doing anything, Prowl." Sunstreaker said flatly.

Prowl knew the twins well enough to know that 'nothing' almost always meant 'something', and usually, that something made the Vice's day unbearable. He wasn't about to let their plans come together, not when he had caught them before it started and could nip them in the bud.

"I'd like to see you in my office. Now."

"But, Prowl…!" Sunstreaker started, but he cut off as the irritated Datsun grabbed him by the wrist and jerked him in the direction of his office.

Sideswipe let out a small squeal of surprise and…fear, maybe… as Sunstreaker's shoulder vanished from under his hand.

"S-sunny!"

Sunstreaker yanked his arm out of Prowl's grip and gave the shorter mech a venomous glare. "I'm still here, Sides." He said gently, before beginning to move back towards his twin.

Prowl, however, was not amused, and he stepped between the two. "What game are you playing?" He asked, oblivious to the small crowd of mechs that had assembled in the corridor to watch, alerted by the argument. "What ever it is, you both still have work to do. Slacking off during a war effort just isn't going to cut it."

"But Ratchet said…" Sideswipe began.

"Ratchet hasn't said anything." Prowl corrected in a dark tone. "And until he does, you two are still on duty. And you look fine to me."

"But…" Sideswipe attempted, but Prowl would have no more.

"Whatever it is you're doing, I don't care. I need you both in my office, right now. So take this thing off and come on." Prowl huffed, reaching towards the blindfold around Sideswipe's optics.

At the same time, Ratchet came down the hall, and spotted the commotion. He had been heading for the Twins' quarters, to tell them how long they would have to wait. He rounded the corner and looked up just in time to see Prowl reach for the blindfold.

"Prowl, DON'T!"

But he yelled a moment too late. The Datsun had grabbed the fabric and pulled it off. And all mechs watching seemed to recoil at the sight, and Prowl felt a twinge, gasping lightly.

Although his face was expressive, showing worry and a little fear, his optics were not; grey, dull, and no matter how his face moved, they stayed the same.

Sunstreaker shuddered at his brother's expressionless gaze. Just as it had this morning, it creeped him out no end.

Ratchet sighed, and strode forward. Gently, he took the strip of cloth from Prowl, who seemed to recoil from it in response, and retied it around the warrior's head. Then, the medic looked over at Prowl.

"Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are excused from active duty until further notice." He paused, spotting the tell tale signs that Prowl was about to protest. "On my authority as Chief Medical Officer, I declare them unfit to participate."

Prowl stared at Ratchet for a moment, before recovering himself and giving the medic a questioning look.

"Not that I don't doubt your professional opinion, Ratchet, but –"

"Prowl, did you not _hear_ me?" Ratchet snapped, taking the Vice aback with his tone. The medic turned to face the twins. "Sunstreaker, get Sideswipe into your room and stay there."

"Sure." The golden warrior, with total disregard of the presence of the other Autobots, took his twin's hand, and led him off.

Prowl looked at Ratchet in surprise. Normally, the CMO would not be so quick to defend the twins' behaviour, unless there was something really wrong with them…

"Ratchet, what –" He began, but Ratchet shook his head.  
"Not here, and not now." He turned to face the other Autobots who were still watching the scene with interest. "All of you, clear off!" They all scurried away. "And if I hear anyone has been harassing the twins, I'll weld them to the floor!" He added after them.

Within a minute, Prowl and Ratchet were alone in the hall, three doors down from the Twins' quarters.

Prowl cocked his head to one side. "Ratchet?"

"Come with me." The medic said, turning towards Prime's office. "I'll explain."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Heh heh. Poor Prowl, victim of my evil. It's prolly unlikely that Prowl would do that, but who else could come to bug the Twins I ask you?


	4. Darkness

"Blind?"

"Blinder than Fireflight in the dark." Ratchet droned, handing the commander his report.

Prime took the datapad from his head medic and cast his optics over the contents. "Why are you giving them both off?" He asked. While Sideswipe, obviously, could not fight in his condition, Sunstreaker still could.

"Sideswipe needs Sunstreaker to be his optics, so to speak." Ratchet explained. "Sides' still needs to get out and about a little, even in his condition, and there is no way either of them would let anyone else be his escort. It _has _to be Sunstreaker."

Prime nodded. That sounded like them, alright.

"Why is he wearing the blindfold?" Prowl asked from his spot against the far wall.

Ratchet levelled the 2IC with a flat glare. "You saw how dead he looks, Prowl." The medic said gently, making the Datsun flinch. "You saw. _That_ is the reason for the blindfold."

…..

Back in their quarters, the twins sat side by side on the bottom bunk. Sunstreaker had his arms around his brother, and come hell or high water he planned on staying there. Sideswipe had his head leant against his brother's chestplate, listening to his twin's spark as it gently rapped against its casing.

"Do you…" The red twin whispered after a while. "Do you think it'll take long?"

"Maybe. Maybe not." Sunstreaker answered, not moving.

"I don't like not being able to see."

"I know bro."

Sideswipe paused. "Don't tell me you're gunna start crooning me now." He huffed, sitting up as he recognised the slightest hitch in his brother's air cycling. "I'm blind, not emo."

Sunstreaker grunted in a way that suggested he was slightly offended. "There is a difference between crooning and humming, and I just might have been tempted to do the latter of the two!" He snarled. "But, I don't see how you deserve to hear it now."

"Ouch."

There was a silent, contemplative pause from Sunstreaker.

"How…" He said after a moment. "How did you know I was gunna do that?"

Sideswipe, despite everything, smiled in the direction of his brother's voice. "You hitched your breath a little." He said. "I heard it."

….

Over the next few weeks, the twins' presence on the battlefield was sorely missed. Three minor skirmishes and two major battles; not always were the Autobots the victors. There were many wounded in the last battle, Prowl, Ironhide and Optimus Prime himself among them.

Sunstreaker had lead his brother to the medbay after the wounded had been stabilized by Ratchet's capable hands, and the pair took up positions standing by the far wall. Ratchet had already yelled himself out at them, giving up after Sideswipe had turned his face towards the medic and held a hand near the knot in the blindfold in a silent threat. The medic had relented then.

While the yellow twin made himself useful by keeping a watchful optic over the recharging wounded, the red stood still, leaning both against the wall and his brother's left side, listening to the medbay.

There was a solid beeping from every life support system in the room, the gentle hum of machinery, and the soft pounding of a dozen sparks, still going strong inside their frames. He had heard these sounds before, countless times. How often had he been one of those recovering, after all?

But now that he couldn't see, he was just a bystander. And he could only pay attention to the sound.

Suddenly, he turned his head to one side. Something wasn't right. Something sounded different. What was it? He listened hard, and then, he caught it; someone's air cycling was becoming rattled and wheezy, like a slow Energon leak into their intake systems. His own cycling hitched. He had suffered that symptom himself. And been preached to by his favourite medic about the seriousness of it.

So, pushing off the wall and turning his whole body toward the suffering sound, bellowed, "RATCHET!"

The CMO bolted out of his office. "What what?"

Sideswipe jabbed a finger in the direction of the sufferer, and Ratchet looked. The blind mech was pointing at Prowl. Prowl was still in recovery stasis. Nothing seemed wrong. The head medic opened his mouth to ask for clarification, when the Datsun started to cough. Deep, loud coughs.

Ratchet bolted to Prowl's bedside just as the second in command coughed up a wad of Energon that caught in his mouth and trickled in a dim glowing river down the corner of his mouth.

"Slag it!" Ratchet cursed as he all but ripped Prowl's casing open and began to inspect the damage.

…..

About an hour later, Ratchet put down his tools and turned towards the observing twins. Wiping his hands on a piece of cloth, he strode over to them, who turned in his direction as he drew near.

"Prowl's stabilized again." He said in a lowered voice. "One of his Energon lines had come loose and was leaking into his intake system."

The twins nodded in understanding.

The medic frowned and looked to the young blinded warrior. "How did you know? The leak had hardly started when you yelled for me."

Sideswipe smiled a little. "I heard it."

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Ratchet called the twins to the medbay, saying the parts for Sideswipe's repairs had come in.

The pair were quiet as they entered Ratchet's domain, and quieter still as the red mech lay down on a berth for the medic.

"Alright, Sides, ready?" Ratchet asked, carefully peeling the rather worn looking blindfold off the twin's head and trying not to wince at his dead expression.

"Yup." Sideswipe answered, although he didn't sound quite as enthusiastic as Ratchet had expected.

Shrugging it off, the head medic took Sideswipe's pain receptors offline, and started to take out the empty optical lenses.

He stopped.

He frowned.

He swore.

"Uh oh."


	5. Teacher

"Uh oh?" Sunstreaker demanded. "Don't say 'uh oh', Ratchet, there shouldn't be an 'uh oh'!"  
"Cool your jets for just a minute will you?" Ratchet snapped, glaring at the yellow twin.  
"Just... what's wrong?" Sideswipe asked, being blind and numb, and therefore unable to tell what was happening at all.

"It's not as bad as all that… it just makes things a little more complicated." The white mech explained. "I should have expected this really…. You so have an accelerated repair system after all…"  
"Expected _what_ Ratchet?" Sunstreaker growled.  
"Your self repair system wrongly recognised the empty lenses as the replacement part. Which means, until your face has fully healed up around the empty lenses I put in before, the new ones will be rejected by your system."

The look on the two Lamborghinis' faces sent spikes of pity through the medic. He opened his mouth to explain, when Sunstreaker opened _his_ to complain.  
"You're fucking kidding! Fix my brother _properly_, damnit!"  
Ratchet's optics narrowed. "Say that again, Sunstreaker, I dare you. Because so help me, I'll be welding that pretty face of yours to the Primus damned _ceiling_ if you speak to me like that again!"

"You haven't got the ball bearings." Sunstreaker growled.  
"Sunny..." Sideswipe whispered. Sunstreaker didn't hear.  
"Don't test me, Sunshine, I swear..."  
"Come on, medic, bring it!"

"Sunstreaker! Don't!"

"That does it; get the hell OUT of my MEDBAY!" Ratchet's hand snapped backwards and he grabbed a welder off the tray off tools, firing it and pointing it at Sunstreaker just in time for Sunstreaker to lunge at him.

Both mechs let out a yell... but then suddenly the bay was quiet.

Sunstreaker and Ratchet looked at Sideswipe in surprise. Somehow, Sideswipe had managed to fling himself off the medical berth between the two short tempered mechs, push Ratchet's welder wielding arm upwards and jab his fingers into a gap in Sunstreaker's armour, prodding some sensitive neural lines, causing him to freeze in his tracks.

"Stop it." Sideswipe said breathlessly.

Everything was still... then suddenly the silence was broken by an awed whistle coming from the door. Ratchet and Sunstreaker turned, their optics easily finding the source of the noise; Jazz, standing in the doorway, a surprised smile on his faceplate.

"Blimey, Siders!" He said, sounding pleased as he walked over. "I've not seen someone with the talent in a while!"

"What are you talking about, Jazz?" Sunstreaker demanded, falling backwards away from the medic and his twin.  
Jazz grinned. "Siders is totally blind, am I right?"  
Ratchet frowned. "Jazz… if you're thinking what I THINK you're thinking…."  
He grinned. "Siders, see if you can follow me." And the black and white mech raised a hand, and started clicking his fingers in a steady, even rhythm, and then walked from where he was standing to the right, around a berth, to the other side of the iso ward.  
Frowning, but not seeing any reason not to try, Sideswipe stepped forwards, and tried to follow Jazz's path. He crashed into the berth, but wasn't too far off.

Sunstreaker ran to his side and helped him up. "Sides, you okay?"  
"Yeah… Was I…. was I close?"

"Jazz, this isn't a game!" Ratchet warned.  
Jazz smirked. "You're right, Hatchet, it's dead serious." He said, stepping up to the twins and putting his hands on his hips. "Come with me, Sideswipe." He said."I'll teach you how to see without your sight."

…

"I object! I OBJECT! I totally object!"  
"Hatchet, cool your circuits, will you? It'll be fine."  
"No, Jazz, I will not! And it will not! Sideswipe, get your aft back to the Medbay, now!"

The medic's order was met by silence and an expression of concentration.

"SIDESWIPE! Oh for Primus' sake, I know you can hear me, you little pit spawn..."  
"Ratchet, for the love o' decibels, zip it, would ya?"  
"No fragging way! I need that little fragger back in the Medbay and shut down so..."

"...So you can totally dismantle his head in order to remove what his systems think is part of it, and install the new sensors, then have him bedridden for the next three months for his systems to recover?"  
Ratchet grumbled.  
"Ratch', trust me, it's not worth it. Even in the chance that it works."

"What makes you the expert, Jazz?" Sunstreaker growled, as the third-in-command led Sideswipe away from the medbay with a slow steady clicking of his fingers. The red warrior was entirely focused on following that sound, taking slow, measured steps.  
Jazz looked back at the yellow artist, and raised his idle hand to his face, tapping his blue visor. "This thing does more than look pretty." He said. "Siders an' I... we're in the same boat."

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker both stopped and turned their heads in Jazz's direction, shock splayed on their faces. "You, Jazz...? But..."  
The head of SpecOps smiled, and brought a hand to his face, and slid his visor up. Revealing a pair of dead, grey optics. Sunstreaker winced. That dead look again…..

"How'd THAT happen?" Sunstreaker exclaimed.  
"Rather in the same way it happened to you, Siders, only, with me, I got half of my head sheared off by a laser security system. Was back in my… rebellious days." He chuckled, and slid his visor back over his optics. Sunstreaker felt himself relax slightly. "I'm a custom build, you see." He continued. "The sensor I was designed to take went out of production years before the accident, and…well, you remember how it was, I'm sure. Nothing was left to gather dust. Everything was melted down and reused, so, we couldn't even scavenge second hand ones fer me. So, I had to make do."

"But we HAVE the parts for Sideswipe!" Sunstreaker exclaimed, looking at Ratchet.  
"Yes." The medic nodded. "We have them here and ready…"

"I've said it before, and I'll keep sayin' it, Ratchet: It just ain't worth it." Jazz 'looked' at Sideswipe. "They tried everythin' to give me my sight back, Sides." He said. "My body rejected any sensors they tried, and they couldn't replicate the kind I needed. In the end, I wasted a good fifteen years of my life sitting in a med bay while scientists and medics experimented on me for the sake of helping. With your head half healed around empty sensors, it may as well be the same fer you. Your body might begin to reject every functional kind of optic, because it's gotten used to the blanks."

"Jazz, when did you become such a pessimist?" Ratchet said, this whole ordeal starting to grate on his patience.  
"Since I sat around, listening to mechs dying all around me, knowing that if I had been out there, I could have made some difference, for fifteen years!"  
"Jazz..."

"Sideswipe, I can't make this choice for you, you gotta. Bein' blind ain't that bad, if you know how to get around it. And I can help you with it."  
Sideswipe was quiet.  
"I'll understand if you want your sight back though." Jazz continued, shrugging his shoulders dramatically. "It is pretty scary."

Sideswipe suddenly looked determined, and Ratchet cursed the manipulative bastard they had for a third-in-command. Questioning Sideswipe's courage is one sure fire way of getting him to do something.

He reached out and put a hand on the red warrior's shoulder. "Sideswipe… this should only be temporary." He said, forcing calm upon himself. "If your body rejects the new sensors it's only a matter of waiting for them to realise what they are, and accept them so you can have your sight back. And if we wait for another few months, then we should be able to replace them easier…."

Sideswipe frowned. "And what do I do in the meantime, Ratchet? Prowl, Ironhide and Prime were hurt in the last few fights, and if I was out there, maybe they wouldn't have been." He smiled. "It couldn't hurt, right?"

Jazz smiled and nodded. "We're gunna need to get you some gear."

…..

Whisp: I saw Dark of the Moon today. INSPIRATION GO!


	6. Ally

Sunstreaker wasn't about to leave Jazz to his own devices with his brother, that was for darn sure. So, he found himself trudging through the desert to the south of Mount Saint Helens, with Jazz in the lead, and Sideswipe between them. Ratchet had left them, presumably to go and tell Prime that Jazz was interfering and complain about it until he wore himself out, but, the yellow warrior wasn't any more concerned with him absent. They didn't need babysitting. And this was Jazz. In theory, you could trust him.

"Where are we going?" Sunstreaker growled after a while. "I thought you were going to teach Sideswipe how to see without his optics?"  
"I am, Sunny, don't be so impatient." Jazz responded as he clambered over a rock, turning to help Sideswipe over. As he needed his hands to help him navigate the terrain they were covering, he was playing a steady drum beat from his speakers instead of the clicking he had used to guide the red mech earlier. "There's more to this business than just listening to a noise to get around."

Sideswipe blinked his dead optics under his blindfold. "What…more do I have to do? How do you get about so easily?"

Jazz chuckled. "Oh, don't worry. You've already got a good head-start on me. When I first started, I couldn't isolate the different sounds anywhere near as well as you." He said, leading them over a ridge to a valley. "Like I said, you just need some gear. And Ratch dun have any. So, we go straight to the source."

Sunstreaker pulled himself up over the ridge, and peered over into the valley below. "Jazz…what am I…looking at…?"  
Jazz chuckled. Now that they knew he was blind, phrases like that rang with a certain degree more irony than they used to. "The source."

At the bottom of the valley, built into the rock wall, there appeared to be…. A building. Only a little bigger than an average human building, really, but definitely Cybertronian in design. And around it there was what appeared to be a forge, and… An obstacle course.

Jazz brought a hand to his mouth, and with two fingers, whistled loud, low and long. The sound echoed off the stone walls of the valley and back a few times before starting to fade off.

There was a moment of stillness, before from somewhere in the valley, a white shape exploded off the ground, soared up, then arched around and headed straight for them.  
Sunstreaker let out a yelp. "M-Missile defences! Get down!"  
"Chill, Sunny, chill!" Jazz laughed gently. "It's all good."  
"Are you KIDDING?"

But, true to his word, the white missile did not obliterate them in a ball of fire a second later. Instead, as it reached them… it transformed. It unfolded into a slender white minibot, with four long wings coming from his back, and blue optics that somehow…seemed off.

"Jazz, have you come to visit again?" He asked in a gentle voice.  
"Got a special order for ya, 'Sight." The third in command motioned to the two mechs beside him. "This is Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Twins, this is Hindsight. He'll be helpin' us out today."

Hindsight touched down on the rock floor and nodded, his face pointed far higher than their faces were. "How can I be of assistance?"

"Sideswipe needs to use the Unseeing Course." Jazz explained. "And the gear to get through it."  
"Ahhh." The white mech nodded. "You have lost your sight, Sideswipe? Not to worry. If Jazz has brought you here, you must have some ability." He smiled at the air over their heads. "Follow the path to the bottom of the valley. We shall get you properly outfitted."  
And with that, the small mech transformed, and shot down towards the buildings below, a wail coming off his four slender wings, which Sunstreaker hadn't noticed before, when he had looked like a high powered missile heading in their direction.

Jazz started playing the drum beat again. "Come on you two." And he started leading them down the path.

...

"If either of you put him up to this, and didn't tell me, I'm going to weld your faces to your tailpipes!" Ratchet boomed as he burst into the office where Optimus Prime and Prowl were working, now that they were both out of the Medbay again.

They both looked up at him with degrees of surprise, but not as many as the medic would have liked.  
"Ratchet?" Prime asked. "What's the matter?"  
Ratchet growled. "Jazz has taken the twins to see Hindsight." He said, stalking closer. "Sideswipe SHOULD be in the Medbay right now, not trouncing through the desert! Which one of you put Jazz up to it? He didn't KNOW about Sideswipe's vision problem, and yet he just shows up to take him for a walk?"  
"Now, Ratchet, please." Prime shook his head slightly and stood. "Prowl has given me reason to believe this will be good for Sideswipe."  
Ratchet gave Prowl a look that would have melted steel.  
The tactician didn't wince, but the door wings on his back did twitch slightly. "Ratchet….. you told me that you caught one of my lines leaking into my intake system…. Because Sideswipe had heard it early enough."  
Ratchet's optic twitched. "I did say that."  
"We sent Jazz to see if Sideswipe has what Jazz calls 'the talent'." Prime explained. "If he has taken them to Hindsight, he must do."  
"Yes, but…. You knew I had ordered replacement parts for Sideswipe. Why would you send Jazz to check it out if you knew I was going to repair him?"

Prime gave Ratchet a kind look. "It is an opportunity gifted to them by fate, Ratchet, to learn a new skill." He said. "You, and I, and Prowl, and everyone else on the Ark has fully working optics and relies on them for most of our actions. Hindsight would not allow someone with working optics to traverse his training course. And heightened senses, even with his sight restored, will not do Sideswipe harm."

Ratchet frowned. He could see his commander's point, but was determined to be angry about it. Almost entirely because he hadn't been TOLD. Almost.  
"And so, instead of suggesting this to me, and asking my professional medical opinion, you go behind my back and tell Jazz classified medical information about one of my patients, just for the sake of the twins learning something?"

"Hindsight has skill that measures to yours, Ratchet, I'm sure he will…" Prime started.  
"This isn't a matter of Hindsight's skill!" Ratchet snapped, cutting him off. "I KNOW how bright that minibot is. I helped assess him, remember? But it's not about him! It's about Sideswipe! You don't even know if he'll be able to manage it!"

"If nothing else, Ratchet." Prime said evenly. "It will keep him, and Sunstreaker, occupied until the time comes that you can properly replace his optic sensors."  
Ratchet growled. He could hardly dispute that. Having something to keep the twins occupied while on medical leave was usually the safest thing for everyone.

"Fine." The medic growled. "He has two months. And when that time is up, he's going under the knife whether he's got 'the talent' or not."

…...

The trio of Autobots arrived at the bottom of the steep valley with very little difficulty. The path was wide enough for them to have walked side by side had they wished, but they trekked down in single file all the same, Jazz in the lead, Sideswipe following the drum beat he was playing, and Sunstreaker close behind, to make sure his twin didn't misstep.

As they reached the bottom, it became clear to Sunstreaker that this facility had been here for a while. It was well weathered into the rock, and the scorches around the forge were thick. But to his surprise, now that he was at the same level as the building, the small visible part from above was not all there was to the complex. There were breaks in the stone, suggesting camouflaged doors, that went up the rock wall higher than his head. Superion would be able to pass through with little need to duck, he wagered.

Hindsight was waiting for them near the forge. "May I ask…" He said as they approached him. "...If you will be taking the training as well, Sunstreaker?"  
"Training?"  
"This is a training course I have designed…" He motioned to the course that ran the length of the valley. "For those who find their vision lacking. Having working optics while in the course is what I would call…cheating."  
"My optics work fine."  
The white mech frowned very lightly. "Then why have you come here?"

Jazz stepped forwards before Sunstreaker got the notion to step on the minibot. "Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are twins." He explained. "You can't have one without the other."  
The minibot nodded once. "I have met twins before." He said. "But, I cannot allow you to take the training with your brother, as is the case."  
Sunstreaker growled, and stepped forward. "You can't STOP me, Minibot!"  
Hindsight shook his head with a sigh. "If you are that insistent in accompanying him, there are measures we can take, but I doubt you would like them, nor can we be sure they would assist you."

Sideswipe frowned. "Measures like what?" He asked. "He could wear a blindfold like this, couldn't he?" He touched the fabric tied around his face with his fingertips.  
"Insufficient." The white mech answered. "One's optics are designed to cope with many situations, such as being blindfolded. Unless I weld steel across your face…" Sunstreaker twitched at the thought. "…there is only one way to ensure visual cues are not tampering with the training…"  
"…'Sight, you're not suggesting…" Jazz started.

"…Is to disable your optical sensors entirely." The minibot finished.

Sideswipe reached for his brother. "It's okay, Sunny, you don't have to do the training with me…"  
"Like hell I don't!" Sunstreaker snapped. "If this is going to happen, this is going to happen with the both of us." He frowned. "…Ratchet won't agree to taking my optics offline though…"

"If you are willing, I can do that for you." Hindsight said smoothly.  
Sunstreaker gave him a look.  
"I am a fully qualified medic, just as Ratchet is." He finished. "You will be in no danger of poor treatment."

Sideswipe knelt down. "Why have you done all this, Hindsight?" He asked. "All of this work… just for blind mechs? Surely there can't be that many?"  
"Oh, no, not especially. At least not around here. On Cybertron, there were a few more, but not many, no."  
"So then….why?"

"The humans have a saying, I have learned." The minibot said with a smile. "...'Birds of a feather'."

There was a dull pause. "What."  
"Hindsight is blind too." Jazz explained.

"_WHAT!"_

…...

Whisp: Cameo appearance from one of my favourite OCs :D Hindsight is a Autobot minibot with a four winged missile shaped alternate mode, who is a fully qualified medic and network intrusions specialist. He has been blind since his creation, and has never seen his own face, let alone anything else. He will be here for a chapter or two, but then will vanish again. :D

And for some reason ff dot net doesn't like ! and ? put directly next to each other. How are we to question and exclaim at the same time now?


	7. Trust

"WHAT?"

The small white minibot sighed, and shook his head. "Yes, it is true. I am also, irreparably blind."  
"How are you a MEDIC then?" Sunstreaker shouted. "No! Just, NO. Blind medic? No way in HELL am I letting you get anywhere NEAR Sideswipe, never mind getting inside MY systems! Forget it!"

Sunstreaker was used to being met with arguments. People thinking they knew better and would try and convince him that he was wrong. So, he was already braced for the inevitable retorts, trying to reason with him, remind him of the important things or the greater good or whatever bollocks they were inclined to use. But instead, the minibot resigned him to his choice.

"Fine." The white medic said firmly, gunning his underfoot thrusters and hovering above the stone floor. "I will not waste my time trying to convince you. This is the long and short of the matter: either you go through the course blind, or not at all." And with that, he flew to Jazz's shoulder, and began to inspect the joins in the larger mech's visor with his fingertips, his four wings flicking up and down in short, sharp movements.

Sunstreaker was stunned by that response. So much so that he just watched the small medic work in silence. While his brother stood shocked, Sideswipe could hear... Only just… the two blind mechs talking.

"It still bothers you, doesn't it." Jazz was whispering.  
"The more patients learn of it and accept it… the more I delude myself into thinking that it doesn't worry me anymore…" The medic responded, in an equally hushed whisper. "I am not incompetent. But…. There are still mechs that only see… that I can't."  
"Sorry… should I have not said anything?"  
"They would have found out later and been horrified. And I do not want to be crushed by some irate Autobot warrior."

Sideswipe frowned and reached out for his brother. "Sunny?"  
Sunstreaker snapped out of his shock, and turned to look at his twin, taking his brother's outstretched hand. "I'm here, Sides. "  
"Sunny… I think…you should let Hindsight help us."  
"But…!" The yellow warrior spluttered. "He can't SEE anything! How is he supposed to safely do any repairs or anything when he's lost his sight? He should have resigned when that happened, not kept on being a medic! You've heard Ratchet bitch when there is smoke or dust in the Medbay and he can't see what he's doing…"  
"I know, but…."  
"Sunstreaker!"

The twins both turned their heads at Jazz's call.

Hindsight was still sitting on Jazz's shoulder, facing away from the twins. His slender wings continued to flick up and down, but not as much.  
"….What?" Sunstreaker ventured.

"Y'got it all backwards." The Third in Command said gently.  
The warrior blinked. "Backwards?"  
"Hindsight isn't like me, or like Sides." Jazz said, smiling at the mech on his shoulder. "He was never hurt… he was sparked this way."  
Jazz heard both twins gasp, very slightly.  
"So, it's a bit different from Ratchet's bitching, Sunny." The Porsche continued. "Hindsight's never seen a thing. So, he_ learnt _medicine this way."

"But… How…?"

"The same way I do things." Jazz said. "Hindsight is the expert at functioning without your sight. And he was the one that taught _me._"

Hindsight turned himself to face the twins. "It is a skill you can learn… if you are willing to trust me."

…...

That was the ultimatum. Hindsight was asking for trust. Jazz certainly trusted him; trusted him with his life, basically, as a false move too close to the delicate workings of one's CPU would result in a rather unpleasant death.

And yet, he was blind.

It was a large disability to get over, that was for sure. They had seen blind humans before. A walking stick or a pet dog their only way of not running into things. They had so many limitations….

But they had seen Jazz SNIPE before. And that was a job that needed sharp eyes. And yet, the head of Special Operations had done it, to great success… even though he had never actually physically _seen _his target.

Sunstreaker wasn't sure if he wanted to give Hindsight his trust. He had never met the mech until today, after all. It seemed like the little white medic lived out here, in this canyon, and didn't participate in the war. Was his primary reason for being here… to help Jazz? It seemed unreal that the Porsche had his own personal medic on hand, and very strange that said personal medic didn't live on base with the rest of them.

Or were there more blind mechs on board the Ark than just Jazz? Were there more, hiding under the guise of normalcy?

Then again, both Jazz and Hindsight had told them a secret about themselves that precious few others knew. It was a fair thing to assume that Ratchet knew, and probably Prowl and Optimus Prime as well. But other than that… Had it been common knowledge, they would have heard about it before now.

So perhaps the two were trying to show the twins that they could be trusted, by trusting _them_ with the secret. Which was also, very strange and almost unsettling for the yellow warrior. He wasn't sure if anyone, really trusted them. Sure, they were trusted not to defect to the Decepticons, they were trusted not to go on a rampage and kill everyone on board the Ark (most of the time), and they were trusted to do their jobs on the battlefield. But trusting them with a secret? They had purposefully been kept away from officer positions where need-to-know information was plentiful. It may also have had something to do with the fact that you couldn't promote one twin over the other, but, no one ever told them much other than 'go here, shoot that'.

But now they had a secret…. That they probably shouldn't go and spread around. And Sunstreaker wasn't sure if he knew how he felt about that.

And to make it all the better, Sideswipe seemed willing to trust the blind medic. Perhaps it was the desperation kicking in; not being able to see all of a sudden must have been a dreadful, disorientating experience. Sunstreaker couldn't remember the last time he had felt so… helpless and vulnerable as he imagined his brother did now, if he ever did at all.

He _could_ just let Sideswipe do the training without him, but that didn't sit very well with the former artist either. There were remarkably few times the twins had been apart, and fewer still when that had been voluntary. Sunstreaker needed Sideswipe. Sideswipe needed Sunstreaker. They were almost the same person, and as they were split-sparked, meaning, when their spark came into being it split into two, they really, almost were.

Which was why it was so hard for Sunstreaker to accept that Sideswipe was making a decision without him. A _big_ decision, not some little, 'I've decided to paint the officers' quarters a sickly shade of pink' kind of decision, of which he had made many ill-fated ones in the past.

This was a decision that more or less, would hold their lives in its arms.

Sideswipe had trusted Sunstreaker to look after him in the weeks that they were waiting for the replacement parts to arrive. Trusted him to be there for him when he was weakened. It was a large measure of trust, but, Sunstreaker had just always _expected_ that trust from Sideswipe.

So perhaps Sunstreaker could trust Sideswipe.

"Hey, Medic." Sunstreaker growled. "…..You've got yourself a deal."


End file.
